A Trinidad and Tobago President’s Eleven comprising of nine selected players for the World Cup squad, cruised to a 4-1 win in a specially arranged training encounter against a Grenada Olympic team at the Larry Gomes Stadium on Tuesday night.
With roughly 800 fans looking on and head coach Leo Beenhakker looking to see how his players were shaping up less than two weeks before the big friendly international against Peru, the Aurtis Whitley led outfit never looked troubled and finished off the opposition with ease. It may have been the type of affair Beenhakker was hoping for as the lack of extra pressure on his players allowed some of them to get the much needed match fitness.
Barring the easy challenge on the night, Whitley and company, including second half substitute Evans Wise did pull a few tricks out the bags as they left the fans in a comfortable mood as they exited the Arima venue.
Young CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh midfielder Kerry Baptiste, a trialist with Beenhakker during a Fort Lauderdale training camp in January, opened the scoring in the 12 minute when he finished off a sweetly executed run by Whitley by nailing home from inside the penalty box.
On 15 minutes, Whitley and Spann combined well before the former shot just wide. The second goal then came three minutes from the break when Falkirk midfielder, playing in a wide left position, neatly picked out Gary Glasgow and he wasted no time in shooting past goalie Desmond Noel.
Playing the game at low gear, choosing to maintain ball possession and play smartly, the home team ensured that they left goalie Clayton Ince with very little to do in the opening half.
Beenhakker threw on Wise and Trent Noel after the break but there was little goalmouth action with the Grenadians looking very eager to get near the T&T goal. US-based defender Avery John (central stopper) and Cyd Gray held off anything that came their way while bigger looking Theobald upped his game when he reverted to a more comfortable central role. Silvio Spann, still recuperating from injury, didn’t do much in the right back position or maybe didn’t need to. Atiba Charles who played close to John, was intent on playing it safe.
Rougier, with a commanding presence in the middle, ran in to spank one home from a low Whitley left side corner.
Four minutes later, Anthony Wolfe got a gift when Wise and Theobald combined beautifully on the left flank as the German-based talent thrilled the crowd with his flamboyance and outran his man before squaring for Wolfe to drag over the line for the fourth goal.
The Grenadians finished the match with something to show as Stephen Hood, spotting a Ince off is line and dinged one straight into the net from almost half field sparking cheers from the home fans who had by that time seen what they came for – a convincing win for the hosts.
The second game takes place at Manny Ramjohn Stadium on Thursday from 7pm. The T&T team will train on Wednesday at the Arima venue from 5pm.
T&T President’s Eleven:
Clayton Ince, Atiba Charles (Glenton Wolfe, 75th) , Avery John, Cyd Gray (Trent Noel 46th), Anthony Rougier, Kerry Baptiste (Trent Noel, 46th), Aurtis Whitley (Brent Rahim 75th), Gary Glasgow (Evans Wise, 46th) Anthony Wolfe, Silvio Spann and Densill Theobald